This seems ludicrous. Of all the professions to worry about, this seems way the last to go after. When I started taking guitar lessons in 1991, they were $15 a half hour. My kids lessons are $75 a month now - virtually no increase over two decades. While a rule against poaching students may be literally anti-competitive, it does feel like it protects the students more than it hurts them.

I don't see the problem with this. The average music teacher has probably committed more crimes than every person on Wall Street combined. This is because music teachers are poor and smelly. Thus, they will do everything in their power--legal or elsewise--to improve their poor and smelly lifestyle. Whereas Wall Street bankers play by the rules because they already have enough money. They are not greedy. They are happy. They are successful. They are conservatives. And, by extension, true Americans.

Yeah....there is a TINY TEENSY WEENSY difference between taking on individual music teachers and taking on the Music Teachers National Association, an industry association with over 22,000 members, 500 branches, various certification programs, numerous funds, etc.

Just a TEENSY one, liemitter. (Yes, FOX lied too, but we expect that from them)

Faux News' propensity to manufacture outrage causes me to be skeptical of everything that they "report."

Yeah, this story seems like it's designed to get the dumbasses who watch Fox News to rally behind an effort to disband the FTC or at least strip it of much of its power, so that large corporations can rip people off with even less effort than they have to put into it now.

I'm going to assume, from the beginning, that Fox is not giving us the whole story. When I took private music lessons I tried out two or three teachers before I settled on one. I found them either through references from others or from the public phone directory, basically their own advertising. I was not approached by any music teachers trying to steal me from an existing teacher.

My guess is that this rule by this professional association was only created to deal with a few people, rather than because of widespread abuse. I expect that a few talented but sociopathic teachers felt that they had to have the best students and needed them attributed to their teaching, and this organization felt that it was harmful to have this behavior.

So long as the student client is free to seek out instruction from any teacher with time to teach, I don't see a problem with a private organization barring its members from actively seeking to take each others' clients.

Emposter:Yeah....there is a TINY TEENSY WEENSY difference between taking on individual music teachers and taking on the Music Teachers National Association, an industry association with over 22,000 members, 500 branches, various certification programs, numerous funds, etc.

Just a TEENSY one, liemitter. (Yes, FOX lied too, but we expect that from them)

Well, "lied," as long as "lied" includes truthfully mentioning the size of the MTNA and pointing out that they have a massive national staff - of twelve. This isn't exactly a rich organization.

Competition bad, unions good, according to liberal subtard. Anything that that unions find objectionable should be attacked at all costs, and by the way no one should be allowed to practice a trade without funding this activity.

So goes the liberal drumbeat that picked up its pace 80 years ago. The liberal status quo, where individual motives and actions are suppressed in favor of the collective.

My music teachers were my bandmates, who worked for free but also were very strict. They'd fire me if I didn't suss out that lead, or get a handle on the rhythm. Music is a great bonding project for you and your kids. sending them to a teacher should be their choice after they've hit 7th-9th grade. If they get into it, they'll already have a band.

Hobodeluxe:want to go after an industry that poaches people? that overcharges for services and goods?look no further than the healthcare industry

Yes. Why force an unemployed citizen to spend money he doesn't have? We all skipped doctors until we started breeding. The healthcare system needs to be contained, they're having valets at the hospital and giving out pens and copies of your xrays with every visit. I have insurance and still pay $500 for an MRI that the doctor orders. I pay $650/mo with matching funds from my employer, but I have to give them $30 per visit. It's ludicris

Faux News' propensity to manufacture outrage causes me to be skeptical of everything that they "report."

Seems like the only people reporting this are the usual derp-outlets. And really, what is there to report at this time anyway? The FTC is investigating and so cannot comment until they are done. The MTNA is proclaiming its innocence. That's all we have for facts at this moment. Of course, Fox will spin it to make the gov't look bad despite having absolutely none of the FTC's findings.

Yea. If you want to be outraged, how about you notice that Obama just put a cable television and cellular phone lobbyist in charge of regulating those two industries as Chairman of the FCC.

He's already decided that network neutrality was a bad idea, so guess who will soon find that their Netflix connection is too slow to be usable, but the cable companies pay per view system works just fine?

Well FoxNews, they are doing something stupid like this (if it even is stupid - I didn't read tfa but I've seen enough faux outrage over "zomg scientist studies slug penis" to know they bother with neither consistency nor accuracy on complex issues) because the faction of government you push 24/7 pushes their hardest to prevent any program from being effective at its job. If it went after corporations, you would be screaming too.

Persnickety:IntertubeUser: Anyone have a derp-free link for this story?

Faux News' propensity to manufacture outrage causes me to be skeptical of everything that they "report."

Seems like the only people reporting this are the usual derp-outlets. And really, what is there to report at this time anyway? The FTC is investigating and so cannot comment until they are done. The MTNA is proclaiming its innocence. That's all we have for facts at this moment. Of course, Fox will spin it to make the gov't look bad despite having absolutely none of the FTC's findings.

There are questions that deserve to be asked.

Is Obama trying to ruin music so we cannot sing religious carols at christmas and ultimately switch to an Islamic version of Kwanzaa? If inquiring reporters don't ask these questions, we may never know.

I don't think I've ever worked on a contract that didn't have a non-compete in it, and contractual language that says I'm not going to go and poach employees if I quit. Now, I know non-compete clauses are about as worthless as the paper they get printed on, but it's nice to know the fed has my back when I start calling people for a new venture.

Smackledorfer:Well FoxNews, they are doing something stupid like this (if it even is stupid - I didn't read tfa but I've seen enough faux outrage over "zomg scientist studies slug penis" to know they bother with neither consistency nor accuracy on complex issues) because the faction of government you push 24/7 pushes their hardest to prevent any program from being effective at its job. If it went after corporations, you would be screaming too.

fark you FoxNews, with a splintered piece of balsa wood.

signed,Everyone sane in the country.

Well you better bygawd get that balsa from a legal source afore you go shovin' it in any arses! (See Gibson Guitar raid)...that is all...

Tried to google a non-biased version of this story to see what was really up, but a search for "ftc music teachers" every single link led to something like "Evil Obama and his FTC minions out to severely punish the helpless innocent members of the music instruction profession". So I guess this is not a story to worry about at all then.

from TFA: "The Federal Trade Commission was created in 1914 in the age of oil barons and rail tycoons to bust the big trusts."In her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand definitively demonstrated the folly of government efforts to ensure "fair competition."

Emposter:Yeah....there is a TINY TEENSY WEENSY difference between taking on individual music teachers and taking on the Music Teachers National Association, an industry association with over 22,000 members, 500 branches, various certification programs, numerous funds, etc.

Just a TEENSY one, liemitter. (Yes, FOX lied too, but we expect that from them)

Except that the MTNA has no authority over music teachers, it's a completely voluntary organization. No teachers are required to join the MTNA and students aren't required to hire an MTNA-certified teacher.

Is there any evidence that this single line in the MTNA's guidelines is having any effect on prices for music lessons?

mike0023:from TFA: "The Federal Trade Commission was created in 1914 in the age of oil barons and rail tycoons to bust the big trusts."In her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand definitively demonstrated the folly of government efforts to ensure "fair competition."

cirby:Emposter:Yeah....there is a TINY TEENSY WEENSY difference between taking on individual music teachers and taking on the Music Teachers National Association, an industry association with over 22,000 members, 500 branches, various certification programs, numerous funds, etc.

Just a TEENSY one, liemitter. (Yes, FOX lied too, but we expect that from them)

Well, "lied," as long as "lied" includes truthfully mentioning the size of the MTNA and pointing out that they have a massive national staff - of twelve. This isn't exactly a rich organization.

It's buried at the bottom of the article and the MTNA is never mentioned by name, only the acronym, in the hopes that you won't realize that they're not actually talking about individual private teachers who are acting as individuals.

Smackledorfer:mike0023: from TFA: "The Federal Trade Commission was created in 1914 in the age of oil barons and rail tycoons to bust the big trusts."In her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand definitively demonstrated the folly of government efforts to ensure "fair competition ." wrote well over 1,000 pages of wooden characters, completely unrealistic dialogue, and incomprehensible plot that anyone who isn't already an acolyte of hers agrees is dreck."

I'm not entirely sure why Fark even allows submissions from Fox News or the Daily Mail. They both tend to publish sensationalist articles that prey on the fears of their target demographic--articles that nearly always turn out not to be entirely accurate.

It'd be one thing if the subbies were at least aware of this, but, for some reason, subbies who take these articles seriously still get their stuff greenlit.

mike0023:from TFA: "The Federal Trade Commission was created in 1914 in the age of oil barons and rail tycoons to bust the big trusts."In her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand definitively demonstrated the folly of government efforts to ensure "fair competition."

Could have told you that from the fact that they used "Obama" as the guy who was causing it. Obama has very little power when it comes to legislation, and even less when it comes to the FTC. His opinion on the situation matters about as much as yours or mine.

shroom:Does this mean they're going to be going after realtors for the same reason? Because they basically operate under the same principle.

Heh, good point. From the NAR Code of Ethics:

"Article 16 is intended to recognize as unethical two basic types of solicitations:First, telephone or personal solicitations of property owners who havebeen identified by a real estate sign, multiple listing compilation, orother information service as having exclusively listed their propertywith another Realtor and

Second, mail or other forms of written solicitations of prospectswhose properties are exclusively listed with another Realtor whensuch solicitations are not part of a general mailing but are directedspecifically to property owners identified through compilations ofcurrent listings, "for sale" or "for rent" signs, or other sources ofinformation required by Article 3 and Multiple Listing Service rules tobe made available to other Realtors under offers of subagency orcooperation."